Charity

The Atlantic Avengers’ team took on 9 Recruitment Teams in the UK recently in a Rowathon, raising money for the Atlantic Avengers Trust.  On Friday 2nd March the Atlantic Avengers’ rowing team set up camp at the Three Hills Sports Park thanks to Shepway Sports Trust and rowed continuously for 8 hours, against 8 Recruitment Teams who were The Recruitment Network, White Recruitment UK, Calco Services, Marton Recruitment, Niyaa People, Freshminds & TXM Recruit.  Using Concept 2 Rowers, collectively all teams rowed in the region of  of 530 miles with the winning team covering 74 miles in 8 hours. An amazing effort was contributed by all teams and our ultimate goal was achieved which was to raise money for the Atlantic Avengers’ Trust.

Celebrations at the Atlantic Avengers launch took place in the Channel Suite at the Leas Cliff Hall on Saturday 4^th November 17.  The Atlantic Avenger’s rowing boat was displayed at the entrance of the venue on the Leas in Folkestone and lit up by neon blue lights.

The evening was dedicated to these two ordinary local men who are starting their journey and preparation to row the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge, the world’s toughest row in 2018.  Alan Campbell the Ambassador for the Atlantic Avengers echoed the enormity of the challenge and said Ricky and John were inspirational and maybe a little crazy in taking on such an encounter.

With thanks to friends, family, local businesses, all donating so much during the evening, to support the three chosen charities, Click Sargent, Shepway Sports Trust and Opera Global Youth Foundation.

The Team are now preparing the next event which is the London Launch, soon to be announced.  Hoping to achieve great things and welcome new sponsors onboard!   Details coming soon.

Ricky Reina and John Wilson have commenced their journey and training for The Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge 2018.  During the week the rowers are participating in a RYA Navigation Course, first aid  and sea training with SeaSports South West.  The week will furnish the guys with invaluable knowledge for the challenges that face them during their crossing of the Atlantic from La Gomera in the Canary Islands to Antigua, 3000 miles of unforgiving ocean.

The course is highly informative with plenty of opportunities for the boys to put their new found knowledge into practice.  The course involves charts & publications, safety, buoyage, tidal awareness, visual & electronic navigation, key elements required when endorsing on such a dangerous challenge.

“Well that was easy what shall we do next”, “Phew, glad that’s over, “he had to stick his oar in”  and “did that T-shirt fit when you started” were a few comments as captions to the photographs below.

Saturday morning, 27th Feb at the Kings School recreation centre was “a Buzz” with excitment and anticipation as the clock slowly ticked down and the metres racked up. Would Ricky & John break the million metre record, how much longer would the adrenaline pump to see them break the longest continual row. All these questions and more were being asked as people piled in to offer their support. I heard someone say how tired they felt but in the same breath mention that they had had 4 good nights sleep since this epic challenge had begun and the pair were still both awake, feeding on the excitment from the crowd.

The fastest 1 million metre indoor tandem row was smashed with a time of 3 days: 15 hours: 34 minutes & 48 seconds (beating the previous best by 1hr:19mins:20secs) and the longest continual row was surpassed by 5 minutes & 42 seconds now standing at an impressive 3days:16hrs:59mins:50Secs

This fantastic mind blowing achievement was all in support of the East Kent Dementia Appeal and 7 other children’s charities as nominated by Ricky as detailed on the “Just Giving” page https://crownfunding.justgiving.com/ricky-reina-2?utm_id=91 should you wish to make a small contribution, which would be welcomed & appreciated by all parties.